Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.
1. An image forming apparatus executing a job based on a job request, the image forming apparatus comprising: a housing; an ejecting tray; a controller calculating first weight indicating total weight of at least one sheet ejected from the housing onto the ejecting tray through execution of the job; and a sensor measuring second weight indicating total weight of at least one sheet on the ejecting tray; wherein the controller determines whether or not the second weight measured by the sensor has decreased after completion of the job, upon determining that the second weight has decreased, calculates decrement of the second weight, and executes a logout process upon determining that the decrement is equal to the first weight.
An image forming apparatus (like a printer or copier) automatically logs out a user based on the weight of paper ejected. The apparatus has a tray for ejected sheets, a weight sensor on the tray, and a controller. After a job (printing, copying, etc.) is completed, the controller checks if the weight on the tray has decreased. If it has, the controller calculates the weight difference (decrement). If this decrement matches the total weight of the sheets that *should have* been ejected during the job, the controller initiates a logout process. This aims to ensure no printed documents are left unattended, thus improving security.
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage section storing weight before job execution measured by the sensor upon start of the job and weight after job execution measured by the sensor upon the completion of the job, wherein the controller subtracts the weight before job execution from the weight after job execution to calculate the first weight.
The image forming apparatus described above enhances the logout process with memory of tray weight. Upon job start, the weight sensor reading is saved to storage. After the job completes, the new weight sensor reading is also stored. To calculate the total weight of ejected sheets from the job, the controller subtracts the initial weight (before job) from the final weight (after job). This calculated weight is used as the "first weight" in determining whether to initiate the automated logout. This method uses measured weight change instead of tracking document quantity.
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage device storing a sheet quantity indicating a quantity of the at least one sheet ejected from the housing onto the ejecting tray through the execution of the job, and the controller calculates the first weight based on weight per one sheet of the at least one sheet and the sheet quantity stored in the storage device.
The image forming apparatus described in the first claim also uses sheet count to estimate ejected paper weight. A storage device maintains a count of sheets ejected onto the tray during the job. The controller determines the total weight of the ejected sheets by multiplying the sheet count with a pre-configured "weight per sheet" value. This calculated value represents the total weight of the printed documents. If the calculated value matches the measured weight difference from the tray, the controller performs automatic logout.
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the storage device further stores a type of the at least one sheet, and the controller calculates the weight per one sheet of the at least one sheet based on the type of the at least one sheet stored in the storage device.
The image forming apparatus described above further refines weight estimation by considering paper type. The storage device stores not only the sheet quantity, but also the paper type (e.g., plain paper, glossy photo paper). The controller uses the paper type to determine the correct "weight per sheet" for the calculation in the preceding claim. Different paper types have different weights, which would make the weight of ejected paper more accurate and lead to a more reliable automatic logout.
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an image forming section forming an image on at least one sheet based on the job request, wherein the housing includes a first housing accommodating the image forming section, onto the ejecting tray, the at least one sheet on which the image has been formed by the image forming section is ejected from the first housing, and the first weight indicates total weight of the at least one sheet ejected from the first housing onto the ejecting tray through the execution of the job.
The image forming apparatus described in the first claim contains an image forming section (like a printer mechanism) within a housing. The image forming section creates an image on the sheets, and these sheets are ejected onto the tray from this housing. The sheets' weight ejected from this housing is considered. The controller calculates the total weight of the sheets ejected from the printer section onto the output tray through the execution of the job, and uses this calculated weight as the basis for the automatic logout process.
6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a sheet conveyance section conveying at least one sheet based on the job request; and a scanner reading an image formed on the at least one sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance section, wherein the housing includes a second housing accommodating the sheet conveyance section, onto the ejecting tray, the at least one sheet of which image has been read by the scanner is ejected from the second housing, and the first weight indicates total weight of the at least one sheet ejected from the second housing onto the ejecting tray through the execution of the job.
The image forming apparatus described in the first claim incorporates a scanner with a sheet conveyance system. The scanner reads images from sheets, and the conveyance system moves the sheets through the scanner and then ejects them onto the tray from a second housing section. The weight of the sheets ejected from the scanner section is monitored. The controller calculates the total weight of the scanned sheets ejected onto the tray, and this weight is used to determine whether the automatic logout should occur.
7. A logout method comprising: ejecting at least one sheet from a housing onto an ejecting tray through execution of a job; calculating first weight indicating total weight of the at least one sheet ejected onto the ejecting tray through the execution of the job; determining whether or not second weight indicating total weight of at least one sheet on the ejecting tray has decreased after completion of the job, the second weight being measured by a sensor; upon determining that the second weight has decreased, calculating decrement of the second weight; determining whether or not the decrement is equal to the first weight; and executing a logout process upon determining that the decrement is equal to the first weight.
A method for automatically logging out a user from an image forming apparatus includes the following steps: Ejecting at least one sheet from a housing onto an ejecting tray after a job; Calculating the total weight of sheets ejected. Determining if the total weight of sheets on the tray has decreased since the job completed, as measured by a weight sensor. If the tray's weight has decreased, calculate the amount of the decrease. Then, it determines if the decrease matches the total weight of ejected sheets, and if they match, it initiates a logout process.
8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller notifies an error upon determining that the decrement is not equal to the first weight.
In the image forming apparatus described in claim 1, if the decrement of the weight measured by the sensor does *not* equal the first weight (the calculated ejected weight), the controller will notify an error. In other words, if the weight difference on the tray doesn't match the expected weight of the printed documents, the apparatus will display an error message, preventing automatic logout, possibly because something went wrong with printing or the documents were removed from the tray improperly.
9. The logout method according to claim 7 , further comprising notifying an error upon determining that the decrement is not equal to the first weight.
In the logout method described in claim 7, if the weight change measured by the sensor does *not* match the calculated weight of ejected sheets, an error is signaled. The method will notify an error if the weight decrement on the tray does not match the predicted weight of the printed documents. This step helps the user be aware of errors.
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September 12, 2017
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